Ford’s South Africa Plant Starts Producing The New Ford Ranger PHEV For The Global Market

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As the transition to electric vehicles accelerates in several markets around the world, countries where the auto industry contributes significantly to their local economies need to accelerate their EV production to safeguard the future of their industries. An example of a country where the auto industry is a key pillar of the economy is South Africa. South Africa hosts several vehicle manufacturing and assembly plants. Some of the automakers producing vehicles in South Africa include Mercedes-Benz, Ford, BMW, Toyota, Isuzu, and Volkswagen.

Six years ago, I authored an article on how South Africa could miss the massive opportunities presented by the EV transition if the country does not act fast enough. That is because the auto industry is a key pillar of South Africa’s economy, but makes ICE vehicles in a world moving quite swiftly to electric.

According to South Africa’s Automotive Business Council reports:

• The automotive industry contributes 5.3% to GDP (3.2% manufacturing and 2.1% retail).
• In 2023, the export of vehicles and automotive components reached a record amount of R270.8 billion, equating to 14.7% of South Africa’s total exports..
• The industry accounts for 21.9% of the country’s manufacturing output.
• Vehicles and components are exported to 148 international markets.
• The manufacturing segment of the industry presently employs in the order of 116,000 people across its various tiers of activity (from component manufacturing to vehicle assembly).
• Combined with the industry’s strong multiplier effect, the industry is responsible for approximately 498,000 jobs across the South African economy’s formal sector.

Sales of vehicles produced in South Africa and exported to various markets around the world in 2024 gave us a sign that the country really needs to accelerate plans to manufacture EVs. naamsa says that for the first time since the COVID-19 affected 2020, vehicle exports declined in 2024 to 308,830 units, down by a substantial 22.8% compared to the record performance of 2023 when the industry exported 399,594 units. Numerous factors impacted the plummeting in vehicle exports, including a slowdown in demand in the EU, the domestic automotive industry’s key export region, due to low economic growth, stricter emission rules, and competition from cheaper electric vehicle imports from China in the region, as well as the timing effect of new model introductions in the domestic market by a major exporting OEMs. This decline means South Africa needs to act fast.

There is now some traction on the PHEV side of things. Some of the OEMs producing vehicles in South Africa, including Mercedes-Benz and BMW, are now making PHEVs in South Africa, and a respectable number of these would have been part of the 308,830 vehicles exported in 2024. Just how many? naamsa says local production of PHEVs was up 121% in 2024 to 11,406 from 5,168 in 2023. That is about 4% of the vehicles exported from South Africa in 2024. This number is set to jump significantly in 2025 as the Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa has begun full-scale production of the first-ever Ford Ranger PHEV at its Silverton Manufacturing Plant.

Ford says the Ranger PHEV, exclusively produced in South Africa for global export, is a key component of Ford’s global sustainability strategy. This is supported by the Silverton Plant’s efforts to adopt more environmentally friendly and sustainable manufacturing processes.

“The addition of the high-tech new Ranger PHEV to our production portfolio is an important milestone in Ford’s manufacturing history in South Africa,” says Ockert Berry, VP Operations, Ford South Africa. “This makes the Silverton Manufacturing Plant central to Ford’s Ranger sustainability efforts, as we are the global source for both the new plug-in hybrid and the established Ranger line-up exported to over 100 markets.”

Ford’s Silverton Manufacturing Plant has been designated the global production hub for the Ranger PHEV, a testament to the facility’s significant upgrades and enhanced adaptability. Producing the PHEV alongside the Ranger expands its global reach, with key upgrades and highlights including:

• Silverton’s capacity is now 200,000 vehicles annually (720/day), including approximately 200 Ranger PHEVs across various specifications and both left- and right-hand drive.
• Europe is the primary export region for the Ranger, including the PHEV from 2025, building on its 10-year reign as the best-selling pickup. Ranger PHEV marks Ford’s first Ranger exports to Australia and New Zealand from Silverton.
• A new PHEV Battery Assembly Plant, featuring a 1,376m² assembly line and 2,116m² logistics warehouse enables 62,000 annual battery pack production, integrating advanced handling, testing, and Ford-first innovations, including a hybrid conveyor system for improved ergonomics and quality.
• Pioneering battery pack testing, using vacuum testing with differential noise cancellation, eliminates environmental interference. This facility is among the first to separate low voltage, vacuum leak, and high voltage testing for enhanced production quality and safety.
• Incremental upgrades across the Silverton plant support the Ranger PHEV, incorporating high-tech manufacturing and automation.
• The adjacent Chassis Plant in the Tshwane Automotive SEZ, the only Ford-owned facility of its kind, added sub-assembly lines for PHEV chassis and component integration, while boosting production efficiency.
• Ford South Africa’s 10,320m² Stamping Plant introduced new dies for the PHEV charging port, while the 44,000m² Body Shop gained a new load box floor line to accommodate the battery pack (raising the load floor by only 31mm).
• The Trim, Chassis and Final Assembly (TCF) line was modified to integrate PHEV components, including a new battery sub-assembly line. Dedicated areas ensure high-voltage work meets safety standards.

Ford says the new Ranger PHEV is launching in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand in 2025. The South African-made Ranger PHEV combines a 2.3L EcoBoost engine with a 75kW electric motor and 11.8kWh battery. It maintains the Ranger’s 3,500kg towing capacity and introduces Pro Power Onboard. Ford is also ramping up measures on the sustainability front. Along with the extensive Silverton Manufacturing Plant upgrades to support the Ranger PHEV global production, significant changes are being implemented throughout the facility, reinforcing Ford South Africa’s commitment to sustainability.

“We have implemented an extensive range of waste reduction and recycling initiatives, including a new water recycling project in the Paint Shop that conserves around 14,400m³ of water annually, and we have plans to expand recycled water usage across the Plant,” Berry says.

A new scrap yard has been constructed that increases the amount of cardboard, paper, and plastic waste that is sorted on site and recycled, in line with Ford’s objective of reaching zero waste to landfill across its worldwide operations. The Silverton Plant team continues to investigate other alternatives for its waste to turn this into a sustainable by-product that can benefit both the environment and future business opportunities.

All such initiatives are complemented by the Silverton Manufacturing Plant’s pioneering solar carpark, which uses more than 30,000 solar panels to generate 13.4MW of electricity — sufficient to power the entire plant during the day.

“We are very close to bolstering our solar system with other alternative energy and storage supplies that will take us a big step closer to exclusively using carbon-free electricity for all of our manufacturing operations,” Berry says.

With Ford saying the plant will produce 200 Ranger PHEVs a day, even if we assume the production on 330 days of the year, that’s 66,000 Ford Ranger PHEVs. That means production of PHEVs in South Africa will jump from 11,406 units in 2024 to at least 100,000 units hopefully, if we assume a ramp up of production of the new BMW X3 PHEV in Pretoria and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class PHEV in East London. This will be good for the South African auto sector. If we stick with this assumption, it will mean the production of PHEVs in South Africa could jump from a 4% share to a 32% share. Hopefully we will see companies assembling and manufacturing BEVs in South Africa as well.

Images courtesy of Ford South Africa